Cat playing with oxygen tubing...suggestions?

[athletixbc]

I've been on home oxygen for 4 years and I've had my cat the entire time. Until yesterday, he's never shown any interest in playing with my oxygen tubing. Yesterday, I woke up and wasn't getting enough oxygen and found he'd chewed on the tubing overnight and punctured it. I had a speare set of tubing so I changed it. 20 minutes later he had punctured the replacement. I taped that one up and it's usable...for now. I have one more set of spare tubing, but my health plan only covers one set of tubing a month so I need possible solution for this...fast! Getting rid of the cat is not an option. He's my family and my best friend.


I know this may be miscategorized because it doesn't affect all CF'ers.

 

[Starfall99]

My grandmother is on oxygen and we have the same problem, one of our cats is OBSESSED with the tubing. For a while we wiped it down with one of those Critter Ridder type products, but it had to be reapplied almost daily and was really annoying. We actually ended up sewing a cloth sheath to cover the tubing with. If you're interested I can ask my mom how they made it, I think it was pretty easy for anyone with basic sewing skills. It's a little annoying threading the tubing through it, but then you can leave it on for a long time until you need to wash it. The cat hasn't touched the tubing since! Also, it's way more decorative than plain old oxygen tubing, which is SO passe.

Eliana
34 w/ CF

 

[athletixbc]

Thank you, Eliana. My Godmother is a cat person and I managed to get a hold of her and she suggested a bitter apple solution so I picked some up at the pet store about half an hour ago and sprayed all my tubing with it. So far, so good, but I think night time will be the test. If that doesn't work, I'll look into putting some kind of sheath around the tubing as you suggested.

 

[Aboveallislove]

Matt,
Rather than sewing you might also find a larger tubing at a home improvement store that you can buy by the yard (like what is attached to a furnace water discharge) and then you could slide the oxygen tube in that tube and then you could put something on the outside of the second tubing that can't be chewed through or that isn't fun to chew on like wraping it in an adhesive sandpaper. I'd also be concerned if the cat's saliva/bacteria got into the tubing where oxygen is going through. . .

 

[CrisDopher]

Ha! I was just thinking about cats and o2 tubing. After more than three months of ignoring the tubing, one of my cats has figured out that he can get attention by tugging on my o2 line. He just paws at it, not doing damage, but it does get my notice! The other cat thinks it's great fun to pounce on the tubing as it goes by her when I walk, effectively clotheslining me. Oh, the joys of pet ownership.

 

[lilmac1177]

i've had issues w/ one of my two cats puncturing my neb tubing! he will go thru spells where he doesn't touch it for long periods of time then he will chew on it again; however, i finally wised up and starting making SURE i put the tubing away, out of his reach, when not in use. i know that doesn't work w/ O2 tubing, and i've often wondered what will happen if i ever find myself having to use O2 at home.

 

[lizlas]

Matt
Inserting the 02 tubing,inside the wider home depot tubing is brilliant. And its alot thicker than 02 tubing, so I would think kitty would have a difficult time penetrating it. Still rub the apple bitters on the outside. If all else fails spray bottle. After the intial spray. Usually just shaking bottle makes kitty run away.
Liz

 

[DianeM]

Matt
Inserting the 02 tubing,inside the wider home depot tubing is brilliant. And its alot thicker than 02 tubing, so I would think kitty would have a difficult time penetrating it. Still rub the apple bitters on the outside. If all else fails spray bottle. After the intial spray. Usually just shaking bottle makes kitty run away.
Liz

Our cat, too, has a fettish for tubing. My daughter has only recently started needing oxygen at night, but, my cat has definitely discovered the new tubing in Danielle's room. I think it all started with the tubing for the GTube feeds. After puncturing a hole in this tubing, she got a tasty treat of isosource formula. After this discovery of tasty food within the tubing, she longed to spend time in Danielle's room. We try to keep the cat out by remembering to keep her room door shut. This is one room that we don't allow her in. She can get lots of attention everywhere else in the house. (She did bite the 02 tubing once with forgetting to close the door)

 

[KatieD.]

We had the same problem with our cat and my husband went through 300 feet of tubing before we found what worked for us. As suggested above we had someone in our church sew a cloth tube cover/sock. This has worked really, really well for us and the cat doesn't bother it at all.

We had originally thought about getting some tubing from Lowes to cover it but my husband was afraid it would weigh the oxygen tubing down and make it heavier. The cloth sock doesn't add much weight at all. We had to play around with attaching the end of the sock to the tubing so it wouldn't slide down too far and expose plastic. I ended up using a small safety pen near the V (the split) in the cannula and penned the fabric together and the safety pen works as a stopper.